The court decided the fate of Mikhail Marynich’s property. Iron, veloergometer and TV-set are the only things that the judge Natalia Vaitsiakhovich decided to leave to the former wife and the sons of the political prisoner Mikhail Marynich. The trial on the complaint of Marynich’s relatives against the verdict of Minsk District Court concerning confiscation of their property was considered in Minsk Tsentralny Borough Court on 7 January. The relatives asked the judge to reverse the decision about confiscation due to the fact that Marynich married for the second time and took his property away. The court listened to the witnesses, who testified concerning the belonging of different items to Marynich’s relatives, but only in three cases the court decided in their favor. The rest of the property was confiscated. Marynich’s sons disagree with the court verdict and intend to appeal against it.

We should remind that in 2004 the former minister and ambassador Mikhail Marynich was sentenced to 3,5 years of jail for alleged theft. Amnesty International declared him a prisoner of conscience.